"The Hidden Power of Smell;" new book by UMBS Limnology Professor

"His book is a direct result of three decades spent working in the chemical senses, and says that even the olfactory environment of UMBS has helped shape this text."

by Mackenzie Myers

Professor Paul Moore. Image credit: Jessica Chung

For many humans, a certain perfume or food aroma can trigger a tide of memories, sensations, and sentimentalities. But for many other animals, sense of smell means much more. It means locating food, navigating, sensing danger, or finding a mate. Dr. Paul Moore’s new book, The Hidden Power of Smell: How Chemicals Influence Our Lives and Behavior, forthcoming from Springer in October 2015, explores how sense of smell actually affects humans in more ways than we think, and why there should be further study of it.

Moore, who runs a sensory ecology lab at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, teaches limnology at UMBS during the summer. His book is a direct result of three decades spent working in the chemical senses, and says that even the olfactory environment of UMBS has helped shape this text.

“The smell of cabins or the forest after a rain allows me to immerse myself in the odorous world,” Moore says. “Walks around camp, through the Gorge, or biking on trails allows my mind to wander about looking for stories. Interactions with students and faculty appear in the book. Without the stimulus of camp and its people, the book would have never been written.”